Moving to Miami hasn’t been as pleasant for Citadel as one might expect from all of the South Florida houses founder Ken Griffin has bought. It turns out that what the Sunshine State can provide in terms of temperature and lack of income tax, it cannot in terms of sufficiently elite private schools, a paucity that Griffin simply hasn’t had time to turn his attention to quite yet. It also turns out that selling up in Chicago isn’t quite as simple as just listing your luxury apartments; you may, as Griffin has, have to suffer a pretty significant loss on them.
KG & co. have been able to push those troubles from their minds by imagining the Class A paradise they’re planning for Miami’s up-and-coming Brickell neighborhood, a 1,000-foot-hight affront to god gazing out into Hurricane Alley. The planned 4.2 acre campus by the Bay is to feature some splashy places to eat, some ritzy places to stay, a snazzy spa, a waterfront terrace, perhaps a dock. Once all of that’s done, there’s going to be another off building and a condo tower behind the main one.
The only thing standing in the way of the full grandeur of Griffintown is a 22-story condo, 130-ish-unit condo right in the middle of the planned development. It’s the only piece of the two blocks that Griffin doesn’t yet own. Or does he?
Some unknown buyer (or buyers) has been acquiring individual units in the building through a number of all-cash transactions, identified only through a series of limited liability companies based in Delaware.
The LLCs have amassed nearly half, or at least 67, of the building’s units over the past two years, public records show. If a buyer gets to 80%, or about 110 units, it will take control of the property. According to documents that govern the building, once that threshold is achieved, the remaining unit holders could be compelled to sell and the new owner could knock the building down.
The question everyone in the building is asking: Is Ken Griffin the mystery buyer looking to fill in the final piece on his massive waterfront assemblage?
Well, if he’s not—and the registered agent behind the purchases is the same as that used to buy up the surrounding acres, so he probably is—all we can say is, as the former residents of a former Palm Beach cul-de-sac called Blossom Way can tell you, Ken Griffin isn’t a big fan of people getting in the way of his real-estate fantasies.
Ken Griffin and the Big Miami Real-Estate Mystery [WSJ]
Billionaire Ken Griffin wants to get out of Chicago quick — sells record-breaking penthouse for a 44% loss [N.Y. Post]
